Upcoming Events and Announcements

7:30 pm – 8:30 pm at Peace

Meets every Wednesday through August 22nd, (but not July 4th). Summer is a time when a lot of people will be out of town or busy, so this is intended to be very low-key. Stop in on the weeks when you want, but don’t worry if you cannot make it.

• Discuss Highs and Lows from our Week
• Choose a chapter from the bible to read
• Talk about how the passage speaks to us and relates to our lives right now
• Pray for each other

What is the Bible?  Sunday morning Adult Education in the summer.

The last session is August 26, 2018
Time: 9:15 am -10:15 am

“What is the Bible?: How an Ancient Library of Poems, Letters, and Stories Can Transform the Way You Think and Feel About Everything” is by Rob Bell.  In his book, Rob Bell explains the context of many stories in the Bible and outlines what he sees as the overarching story that develops across the Old Testament and into the New Testament. 

Peace member Jon Nerdig will lead a discussion on how people read and interpret the Bible, and how the Bible applies to our lives in the 21st century. We’ll read excerpts from the book during the studies. 

Help Make a Difference in Your Own Community!!

Belvedere Elementary School Food Bag Help Needed: Our local elementary school has asked us again this year to help support their efforts to provided weekend food bags to students who may not have enough to eat over the weekends. Unfortunately, this is a problem in our local area and the churches are being asked to help.

As part of our “God’s Work, Our Hands” ELCA Day of Service on Sunday, September 9^th, the entire church will have the opportunity to package the food to support at least six children (more if we get increased food donations) for the entire school year. To kick off the project we need food shown in the list below to be dropped off during the month of August in the collection station being placed in the Fellowship Hall.

Please bring your donations before September 2^nd. We will inventory what we have collected to that point and use Thrivent Action Team Funds to purchase food to make up any shortages.

• Breakfasts: oatmeal packages, small cereal box, granola bar.
• Lunches: cheese/crackers, cup of soup, peanut butter crackers
• Dinners: Easy mac-n-cheese, beef ravioli, tuna, stew, etc.
• Snacks: applesauce, pudding, fruit cup, fruit snacks.
• Drinks: non-refrigerated milk or juice boxes.

***Please make sure expiration dates are beyond January 31, 2019

Faith Foundations is an intensive, high-commitment opportunity to dive deep into your faith and develop closer relationships with God and others.  We’ll meet 20 times over the year plus a retreat and a service project.  Meets Wednesday nights, 7-8:30 starting September 19^th. Find out more or sign up go to https://sharingpeace.org/faith-foundations/.

Good Neighbor Program Volunteer Orientation and Cultural Awareness Event
September 8, 2018, from 5-8 pm

Peace Lutheran, along with John Calvin Presbyterian Church and Ravensworth Baptist Church, in partnership with Annandale Christian Community for Action (ACCA) will be working with Lutheran Social Services of the National Capital Area (LSS/NCA) to support refugees coming to this country. LSS/NCA will be the resettlement agency that connects our group with a family seeking refuge here, through their Good Neighbor Program. ACCA is financially supporting the effort to welcome the family and set them up with assistance for living expenses for the first year of living here.

On September 8, 2018, from 5-8 pm, we will host a volunteer orientation and cultural awareness training event at Peace. At that orientation, we will detail the number of ways that an individual can volunteer and provide information about the culture of the family we will be sponsoring. Dinner will be served!

RSVP by September 1, 2018 to Amy Meli.

Please note: after that orientation, there will be one additional training session and background checks required for volunteer roles that include ongoing involvement with the family (i.e. for tutoring – not all volunteer roles are long-term, there are shorter term and one-time opportunities to help also). 

Once the orientation and necessary training/checks are done, LSS/NCA will match our group with a family seeking to make a new life here in Northern Virginia. You can find out more about the process here. 

If you are interested in giving your time and care to support a newly arriving refugee family, contact Nadia Fitzcharles with questions and/or interest.

Tuesday Morning Bible Study  will not meet on August 28th and September 4th.

Messenger rehearsals begin on Tuesday, August 21st. The Messengers group lead the worship service once a month and welcome new members anytime. Rehearsals are Tuesday evenings. Please consider sharing your love for music by joining them this coming season. Contact Jim Nice for more information.

Walk the Talk: How to Reduce Waste in your Congregation

Also, be sure to check out our full church calendar.